Delight Among the Oak Leaves

Delight Among the Oak Leaves

“When the cuckoo’s song is first heard among the oak leaves to the delight of mortals throughout the wide earth.” Hesiod, Works and Days What brings delight to people, or not, can show much about those people. Here Hesiod writes of what in his experience brings...
Of Dogs and Men

Of Dogs and Men

“But when he knew he heard Odysseus’s voice nearby, he did his best to wag his tail, nose down, with flattened ears, having no strength to move nearer his master. And the man looked away, wiping a salt tear from his cheek… If this old hound could show the form he had...
Some Matter Can See!

Some Matter Can See!

“By nature animals are born with the faculty of sensation…” Aristotle, Metaphysics Perhaps of all the wonders of the natural world none is as magnificent as this: some creatures can see. One almost shudders to ask: what does it mean to see something? Here...
That Tree is Alive!

That Tree is Alive!

“Of natural bodies some have life in them, others do not.” Aristotle, On the Soul     It seldom catches our attention. So easy is it for us to pass it by without noticing. That tree is alive. Choose the tree—it matters not which one: the specimen maple in...
Rediscovering Wonder

Rediscovering Wonder

“For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.” Aristotle, Metaphysics     When it comes to certain wonder-full things in the world around us, life experience can have a stultifying effect in our souls. We become...

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